Wearable devices such as smart watches usually have relatively small form factors compared to typical mobile phones due to the requirement that they need to be conveniently worn on a certain part of a human body, such as a wrist. Because wearable devices such as smart watches are typically thin devices with small surface areas, there are serious physical constraints on the placement of access ports on such devices, for various functions such as battery charging, audio/video access, and data access, for example. Because the form factors for wearable devices are usually small, the number of access ports for battery charging, audio/video access or data access would be severely limited. The sizes of access ports for such wearable devices also need to be small. Moreover, space may not be practically available for any power, audio/video or data ports on the outer surface of a smart watch, for example, because the outer surface of a smart watch may need to be made available for a display, such as a liquid crystal display (LCD).
In addition to the challenges posed by small form factors, other considerations need to be taken into account in providing access ports for wearable devices or smart watches. For example, a smart watch is expected to be exposed to the environment without covers, and conventional ports for battery charging, audio/video or data typically are not sealed or protected from weather effects.